Virtue:
Quick-wittedness
Other names:
Shrewdness, creativity
Definition:
Ability to find each logical step quickly, to figure stuff out, to come up with new, relevant ideas
"disposition to acquire a right estimate by oneself" (II-II a49 a4); "ability to size up a situation quickly on one's own and to see which of the possibly relevant practical syllogisms is the most appropriate" (trans. Freddoso)
Advice:
Empirical Research:
Case examples:
Gifts of the Holy Spirit
Further reading:
Vices opposed:
Negligence, "a lack of due solicitude stemming from a lack of a prompt will" (Freddoso)
Inconstancy (or irresoluteness), "withdrawal from a definite good purpose stemming from the passion of desire" (Freddoso)
Inconstancy (or irresoluteness), "withdrawal from a definite good purpose stemming from the passion of desire" (Freddoso)
Case Study
ReplyDeleteIn his autobiography, Pizza Tiger, Tom Monaghan explains how the virtue of thinking on one's feet was crucial in the early stages of the Domino's franchise. In 1967, the fledgling company began work on the first of its stores to be built from scratch. "We had a lot of unforeseen problems in getting that store completed, but we improvised in various ways. We had to scrounge up second-hand fixtures, and ended up using bricks for oven bases when legs failed to show up. Improvisation has grown into an operational style among our store development people: Think fast, solve problems on the spot, and don't worry about finding out what caused any screw-ups until after you've got the store open. In this and many other ways during this period, we were setting the whole tone for the development of Domino's in years to come." (Monaghan, Pizza Tiger, p. 122)
Case Study
ReplyDeleteJohn D. Rockefeller’s legacy is complex and controversial, as historian Ron Chernow demonstrates in his monumental biography, Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller. Nonetheless, the devout Christian Rockefeller exemplified several virtues in both his business and philanthropic activities. From his early boyhood in the backwoods of upstate New York, he displayed the same shrewdness that would make him one of the most financially successful Americans of his day. “Even as a boy, he bought candy by the pound, divided it into small portions, then sold it at a tidy profit to his siblings. By age seven, encouraged by his mother [Eliza], he was dropping gold, silver, and copper coins that he earned into a blue china bowl on the mantel. John’s first business coup came at age seven when he shadowed a turkey hen as it waddled off into the woods, raided its nest, and raised the chicks for sale. To spur his enterprise, Eliza gave him milk curds to feed the turkeys, and the next year he raised an even larger brood. As an old man, Rockefeller said, ‘To this day, I enjoy the sight of a flock of turkeys, and never miss an opportunity of studying them.’” (Chernow, Titan, p. 17)
Case Study
ReplyDeleteJohn D. Rockefeller’s legacy is complex and controversial, as historian Ron Chernow demonstrates in his monumental biography, Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller. His virtues as well as his vices were shaped by his relationship to his dissolute father, Bill, whose long absences and eventual abandonment of his family forced young John to live on his wits. “In 1857, Bill decided to build his family a substantial brick house on Cheshire Street in downtown Cleveland, a farewell gift that would enable him to abscond with a clear conscience. ‘In 1857 my father told me to build a house,’ said John D., giving the story a positive gloss. ‘It was a lesson in self-reliance. He handed me the money, told me the sort of house he wanted and left all the details of the business to me. I drew plans, got the material, found a builder, and built the house.’ Did Bill regard this as some final test, a crash course in business for John, before he abandoned the family to the tender mercies of chance? As he warned his son, ‘I shall be away and must rely on your judgment.’ Or perhaps Bill just wanted to be spared the inconvenience of doing it himself.
“Rockefeller was justifiably proud of his feat of superintending this house, a bravura performance for a boy of eighteen with an already demanding schedule at [the produce shipping company of] Hewitt and Tuttle. As if he had been doing nothing but construction work all his life, he solicited estimates from eight contractors and selected the lowest bidder. He reviewed his plans, negotiated the contracts, and settled the bills with implicit confidence in his judgment. In fact, so closely did he supervise the contractors, so zealously did he outbargain them, that they lost money on the project. If Bill was testing his son’s ability, he passed with flying colors.” (Chernow, Titan, p. 58)
Case Study
ReplyDeleteIn Rumsfeld’s Rules: Leadership Lessons in Business, Politics, War and Life, Donald Rumsfeld provides an example of decisive quick-wittedness in action. “Acting quickly in a crisis can instill confidence in those still reeling from events. It can also give one an advantage over an enemy or competitor. One of the more impressive examples of a company acting swiftly and skillfully in a crisis occurred in the autumn of 1982, after seven people in Chicago died from poisoned Tylenol capsules.
“How Tylenol’s parent company, Johnson & Johnson, responded is considered a textbook example of excellent crisis management even thirty years later. The company quickly issues a nation-wide recall of Tylenol products, costing them millions of dollars. It halted production of Tylenol capsules, canceled all advertisements, and offered to replace capsules that already had been purchased with newly tested, safe tablets. It then developed what has since become standard for over-the-counter medications: tamper-proof containers.
“In the case of the Tylenol scare, speed proved essential. The corporate leaders took control of events before a mind-set developed that all J&J products could be dangerous and before a perception formed that the company was unwilling or unable to deal with the problem responsibly. Because of their efforts, Johnson & Johnson’s stocks rebounded within a year. Today, consumers purchasing Tylenol capsules give little if any thought to an incident that could have permanently damaged, if not destroyed, that brand.” (Rumsfeld, Rumsfeld’s Rules, pp. 138-39)
Case Study
ReplyDeleteIn his book, Rumsfeld’s Rules: Leadership Lessons in Business, Politics, War and Life, Donald Rumsfeld explains the importance of clear thinking and quick-wittedness in dealing with an occasionally hostile media. “Good reporters can be provocateurs. They know in advance what questions they need to ask to get a lively quote. Some reporters fashion their questions in a way that can put the interviewee on the defensive.
“What I do in such circumstances is to rephrase the question so it is based on a premise that I consider more accurate or germane. By doing so, you can then give a response that is based on the actual facts.
“I remember being in New York City in 1965 and tuning in to a local news report on the conservative columnist and author William F. Buckley’s quixotic campaign for mayor. A brilliant speaker – lively, intelligent, humorous, and with, as he might have said, a sesquipedalian vocabulary – he was running for office to make the case for conservatism in a city not known for anything slightly resembling it. (Asked by a reporter what he’d do if he won, he famously retorted, ‘Demand a recount.’) The local reporter told Buckley that he had been interviewing one of the candidate’s supporters. This pro-Buckley voter allegedly said he was supporting Buckley because he would run black New Yorkers out of the city.
“Buckley, in a calm and measured manner, responded something to this effect: ‘Well, let’s say you did interview a supporter of mine this morning. And let’s assume you asked the question the way you have indicated and the person actually answered your question the way you have said. And your question to me is: “What’s my reaction?”’ Pausing, Buckley then shifted tone and angrily shouted, ‘My answer is: You can take your swamp fever vote! I don’t want it, and I don’t need it!’
“Buckley’s response has stuck in my head for decades. It had drama, substance, and emotion. Before answering the question he had raised doubt about the accuracy of the reporter’s assertion, suggesting it was a fabrication designed to embarrass the candidate.” (Rumsfeld, Rumsfeld’s Rules, pp. 156-58)
Case Study
ReplyDeleteIn his book Thinking Outside the Box: The Wine Group Story, Arthur Ciocca, founder of Wine Group, Inc., discusses the challenges that accompanied his company’s merger with Mogen David by Coke-NY. Mogen David was plagued by a culture of waste and personal extravagance. Ciocca’s first task was to reform it and bring it into line with Franzia’s frugal business model in order to stabilize sales declines. “The man who played the biggest role in charting a new course for Mogen David was Lou D’Ambrosio. At the time, Lou worked in the finance department. He was an inquisitive guy who always took a strong, proprietary interest in every assignment and had excellent perspective on the overall business. [Ciocca’s associate] Lynn Bates asked Lou to go to [Mogen David’s main winery in] Chicago to get a feel for the financial situation. As usual Lou did that, and much more. He evaluated actual production costs and output, efficiencies and capacities.
“When he was finished in Chicago, he took it upon himself to go to the small satellite winery in Westfield, New York to do the same. What he found was transformational. With very little capital expansion, Westfield could outperform Chicago at a fraction of the cost. That not only meant unit costs could be lowered, it meant that we could unload all unproductive assets in Chicago to better align the balance sheet.
“By thinking out of the box, Lou saved countless dollars and proved himself to be much more capable than we ever imagined. Lou’s story was one of the first great examples of a cultural value that would manifest itself further in the company’s development. Taking a proprietary interest in everything you do will serve you well in this company whether you are an owner or not. Today, Lou plays an important role as Senior Vice President of Production Services.” (Ciocca, Thinking Outside the Box, p. 44)